Contradictions are nothing new in this gated retiree community of bungalows, low-rise condominiums and clubhouses atop grassy knolls. Incorporated in 1999, Laguna Woods is one of the state’s youngest cities, but at the same time, one of its oldest: Residents’ average age here is 78.

On Nov. 8, this community formerly known as Leisure World did it again, this time by bucking the trend in statewide voting behavior. According to a Register analysis of voting results, Laguna Woods was the only city in Orange County to show more support for all four of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s ballot initiatives more than it did for him during the 2003 recall election.

Statewide and countywide, it was the opposite: People cast a higher percentage of their votes for the governor than they did for the propositions he said he needed to better govern.

One plausible explanation for why Laguna Woods voted the way it did could be the age of its residents. Some analysts say the generation that achieved political awareness before the 1960s is one that tends to give the benefit of the doubt to their leaders, even if they were not sold on Schwarzenegger becoming governor in the first place. “They still do represent that sort of good old age where authority figures meant something,” said Mark Petracca, who heads UC Irvine’s political science department. “But Arnold Schwarzenegger, authority figure? That’s where I have a hard time making that argument, that they would show deference to a live-action movie star.”

Schwarzenegger was a hard sell for Lennie Sutherland of Laguna Woods, who ended up voting for him in 2003 and his ballot initiatives this month. “At first I was just repulsed that he was running, but the more I listened the more I grew to believe that he was pretty good,” said Sutherland, 75, a retired high school and community college chemistry teacher.

Her husband, Wib, on the other hand, said he opposed the recall election – “I have more of a tendency to want to stick with the normal election process,” the 76-year-old retired McDonald’s vice president explained.

But he, like his spouse, was moved to vote for the initiatives as a way to improve the way California is run.

“By the time you get to be 70, 80, 90 years old, you’ve spent your own money in many different ways and you have a new perspective on it,” added Lennie Sutherland, a Texas native. “None of us grew up using credit cards. … You come here and when you see the state spending money, not necessarily foolishly but without control, you react.”

She cast an absentee ballot in this month’s election, as did more than two-thirds of the other Laguna Woods residents who voted on Nov. 8. The city had the highest absentee voter turnout of any Orange County community.

Which is another possible factor that affected the outcome here: Schwarzenegger’s campaign expected that absentee voters would be more likely to favor his initiatives than those who cast their votes in person at the polls.

But even here, two propositions failed: The governor’s Proposition 76, which would have given him more control over spending, and Proposition 77, which would have given authority to retired judges.

Many voters seemed influenced by the union barrage of attack advertising, observed Larry Irion, 75, a Republican precinct inspector at one of the Laguna Woods clubhouse polling stations. “People would come in and say that: ‘I don’t like that governor, and I’m going to vote no on everything,’.” he said.

The governor had spent most of his time in Republican strongholds like Orange County in the weeks leading up to the special election in hopes of persuading his supporters to turn out and vote. Overall, county voters did support his initiatives, but their turnout was lower than when they elected him in 2003. Only two of every five registered voters turned out across Orange County on Nov. 8, one less than turned out in 2003.